Jump to content

Sherlock Holmes, by Lovecraft and others


seneschal

Recommended Posts

Sherlock Holmes has met the Cthulhu Mythos before, both in Chaosium's own Cthulhu by Gaslight and in short story anthologies such as Shadows Over Baker Street. There was even a computer game, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. Most recently, I encountered a crossover in the short story anthology Resurrected Holmes at my local library.

The conceit of the anthology is that a wealthy book collector purchased Dr. John H. Watson's unpublished notes, then hired assorted big-name authors to turn them into new Holmes mystery yarns. "The Giant Rat of Sumatra," purportedly by H.P. Lovecraft but actually written by Paula Volsky, is an engaging tale and one of the best in the book. Craig Shaw Gardner's story, "The Politician, the Lighthouse, and the Trained Cormorant," is a decent Holmesian mystery but doesn't really capture the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs (although it features talking apes, and Holmes is buff after sojourning in Africa). "The Madness of Colonel Warburton," in the style of Dashiell Hammett, is a hoot from the word "go." Imagine Watson narrating a Holmes adventure like Jack Webb in a Forties noir film and you get the general idea. ;D

Anyone else discover other Victorian Cthulhu crossovers out in the wild?

Edited by seneschal
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

While all the stories in the anthology “Shadows Over Baker Street” may not catch the vibe of either H.P. Lovecraft or Arthur Conan Doyle, they certainly present some interesting situations – and creatures. I need some help in how you’d express them in BRP terms.

Flame Tiger

From the story “Tiger! Tiger!” by Elizabeth Bear

An entity having some connection to Hastur, the flame tiger is literally a creature of living fire. It hunts and reacts like a normal, physical big cat but is stronger and does more damage with its claws. Unlike regular tigers, it is a man eater by default. It is impervious to bullets (which simply melt when they hit it) but can be harmed by water and other fire-retardant substances. A heavy rain will reduce it to a pile of smoldering ash.

Mini Shoggoth

From the story “A Case of Royal Blood” by Steven-Elliot Altman

This isn’t the classic monster from “At the Mountains of Madness” but a sort of vampiric doppelganger grown by an evil sorcerer for purposes of revenge. The lengthy creation process requires a stand of trees and regular pints of blood donated (willingly or unwillingly) from a living genetic relative of the prospective victim – a cousin, sibling, half-sibling, etc. – resulting in a sort of vegetable womb in which the botanical assassin resides. The creature takes on the appearance of the blood donor but is in reality a monster whose face is all toothy mouth. It is intelligent, can speak, and can be quite charming but exists only to kill. Anyone will do, but the mini shoggoth is obligated to attack “family” first. It can teleport within a certain range of its nest, and is a stealthy stalker, confronting its target when others aren’t around. It isn’t ashamed to run away from superior opposition and will return again and again seeking to harm the person it was made to hunt. Its presence is given away by its smell, the scent of the trees it resides in. The mini shoggoth can only be eliminated by the destruction of its nest, preferably by fire. Opponents must take care that the trees’ roots are killed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...